Editor's Summary
14 August 2008
Mental illness: geneticists versus neurocientists
A News Feature in the 10 July issue reported on differences between geneticists and neuroscientists concerning the interpretation of the genetics of mental illness (The brains of the family, Nature 454, 154–157; 2008). But are both groups overlooking significant factors more directly relevant to human suffering? The Correspondence columns this week broaden the debate to consider environmental factors, which have been linked to conditions such as schizophrenia, and to ask whether textbook definitions of psychiatric disorders are merely arbitrary checklists.
Correspondence: Mental health: maybe human troubles don't fit into set categories
Paul Reeve & Louigi Addario-Berry
doi:10.1038/454824a
Correspondence: Mental health: don't overlook environment and its risk factors
John J. McGrath & Jean-Paul Selten
doi:10.1038/454824b
Correspondence: Mental health: drop ideological baggage in favour of best tools
P. Alexander Arguello
doi:10.1038/454824c
